Preview: Huracan vs. Newell’s Old Boys
Huracan can end a nine-match winless run in all competitions when they host Newell’s Old Boys on matchday 21 of the Argentina Primera Division campaign this Friday at Estadio Tomas Adolfo Duco.
For the moment, Globo find themselves third from the bottom following a 1-0 loss at Gimnasia last Tuesday, while La Lepra have points in three straight domestic encounters, as they are currently 12th in the opening phase following a 1-1 draw at home to Union.
The current struggles at Huracan over the past couple of months have boiled down to a lack of quality in the attacking third.
Since Sebastian Battaglia took over in May, this team have been nearly invisible when entering that area of the field, without a goal domestically in five matches under the ex-manager at Boca Juniors.
They have scored the third-fewest goals in the league thus far (15), though Huracan have not suffered a domestic defeat at home to Newell’s since 2017 (1-0), winning the last two league fixtures against them in Buenos Aires by a 1-0 score.
Recently, this team have fallen apart late in matches with the pressure mounting, conceding a goal beyond the 80th minute in defeats to Danubio (1-0) at the Copa Sudamericana and domestically versus Gimnasia last Tuesday (1-0).
Three of their four victories this season have occurred on home soil, though only one of those triumphs in Buenos Aires came against a side currently above them in the table, defeating Barracas Central 2-0 back in February.
Unbeaten in five successive matches in all competitions, the club from Rosario are in relatively good form right now.
Gabriel Heinze has his side just a point back of a Copa Sudamericana spot next season with seven victories in the opening phase of this competition, equalling their wins total in the first round of the 2022 Primera campaign.
Newell’s have not shown much quality in the final third, notching the fifth-fewest goals in the league thus far (17), but they have got by with resolute defending, conceding the fourth-fewest goals domestically (16).
La Lepra have only claimed victory in one domestic road contest this year, though they picked up just their second clean sheet away from home earlier this month, drawing 0-0 at Sarmiento.
They are unbeaten domestically this year when scoring the opening goal but have only collected one point in the Primera this season when conceding first.
Huracan Argentine Primera Division form:
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Huracan form (all competitions):
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Newell’s Old Boys Argentine Primera Division form:
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Newell’s Old Boys form (all competitions):
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We say: Huracan 0-0 Newell’s Old Boys
Both sides focus on defence first and are rather indecisive in the attacking third, which leads us to believe we will see a stalemate between the two later this week.